Quigley Down Under

Plot

Sharpshooter Matt Quigley is hired from Montana by an Australian rancher paying a very high price. But when Quigley arrives Down Under, all is not as it seems.

Release Year: 1990

Rating: 6.6/10 (7,879 voted)

Director:
Simon Wincer

Stars: Tom Selleck, Laura San Giacomo, Alan Rickman

Storyline
Sharpshooter Matt Quigley is hired from America by an Australian rancher so he can shoot aborigines at a distance. Quigley takes exception to this and leaves. The rancher tries to kill him for refusing, and Quigley escapes into the brush with a woman he rescued from some of the rancher's men, and are helped by aborigines. Quigley returns the help, before going on to destroy all his enemies.

Cast:

Tom Selleck
–

Matthew Quigley

Laura San Giacomo
–

Crazy Cora

Alan Rickman
–

Elliott Marston

Chris Haywood
–

Major Ashley-Pitt

Ron Haddrick
–

Grimmelman

Tony Bonner
–

Dobkin

Jerome Ehlers
–

Coogan

Conor McDermottroe
–

Hobb

Roger Ward
–

Brophy

Ben Mendelsohn
–

O'Flynn

Steve Dodd
–

Kunkurra

Karen Davitt
–

Slattern

Kylie Foster
–

Slattern

William Zappa
–

Reilly

Jonathan Sweet
–

Sergeant Thomas

Taglines:
The West was never this far west…The Emmy Award-winning director of "Lonesome Dove" puts the classic Western back where it was meant to be, on the big screen…in a place it's never been before.

Release Date: 19 October 1990

Filming Locations: Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

Box Office Details

Budget: $20,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $3,853,149
(USA)
(21 October 1990)
(996 Screens)

Gross: $21,413,105
(USA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

The film was to have been Steve McQueen's follow-up to
The Hunter, but he fell ill shortly after filming
The Hunter, so the project was scrapped.

Goofs:

Anachronisms:
In the opening credits the sailing ship has a propeller wake.

Quotes:

Matthew Quigley:
[to Cora]
You sure are pretty in the mornin' sun.

User Review

An overlooked gem

Rating: 8/10

This movie isn't the best Western ever made, but it's a solid creative
effort that brings out many of that genre's most appealing aspects. It has
romance, gunplay, wonderful scenery, and, most importantly, a solid hero and
a solid villain. Westerns are, by nature, a morality tale. There's a Good
Guy and a Bad Guy, and in the end, the hero prevails through a combination
of courage, fair play, and ingenuity. And that's exactly what happens here.

The three principal characters are Quigley, an American sharpshooter hired
by an Australian rancher, Marsden, and Crazy Cora, a woman shipped off to
Australia by her ex-husband after accidentally suffocating her baby to keep
him quiet while hiding from raiding Comanches. Quigley (Tom Selleck) is an
expert long range marksman who has been recruited ostensibly to shoot
dingoes, but, as he finds out after his first night with Mr. Marsden (Alan
Rickman), his real targets are to be local Aboriginies. This leads to a
rather violent falling out between the two men, which sets up the basic
conflict in the movie. Marsden wants Quigley dead, and has numerous
ranchhands to get the job done. Quigley has the shooting skills that allow
him to pick off Marden's men pretty much at will. An uncredited "star" of
the film is Quigley's Sharp's .45 calibre rifle, a gun so accurate it can
kill a man from nearly a mile away.

Anyway, the movie proceeds in a more or less conventional fashion. After a
big fistfight at Marsden's ranchhouse, Quigley and Cora are left for dead in
the Australian outback. They are rescued by a band of Aboriginies, then
quickly return the favor by picking off Marsden's men as they try to
massacre more Aboriginies. Along the way, Quigley slowly falls for Cora. She
may be nuts, but she's also charming, resourceful, brave, and beautiful.

In the end, Marsden gets what he deserves. Cora regains her sanity. And
Quigley gets both the villain and the girl. Like I said, it's a Western in
the classic tradition – well told and with great visuals.

8/10